Thursday, June 23 2011 16:14
Asian Development Bank to provide US$170 million loan to Armenia
ArmInfo. Parliament of Armenia ratified a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank in the amount of US$170 million, Thursday.
Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan introduced the agreement and it was signed on May 30 2011 between the government of Armenia and ADB. It is inherently the second tranche of the ADB's loan for construction of the 41km section of Yerevan-Talin motorway as part of the North-South corridor, Davtyan said. The corridor will link Armenia to Iran in the south and to Georgia in the north. The minister said a modern four-lane road instead of the existing two-lane one.
"It will be an unprecedented construction by the involvement of people and equipment," the minister said. The loan maturity is 20 years with a 4-year grace period and the annual interest if LIBOR+0.3%.
The minister said that the first program of Yerevan-Ashtarak road construction will be launched simultaneously with the second one by the end of 2011. US$60 million was provided for the first 11.7 km section of the road, but the tender selected no construction company and the construction was not launched, In fact, the given section will be united with Ashtarak-Talin section in a double lot.
Total cost of the project is $962 mln. ADB will provide US$500 million loan. The Armenian Government and foreign sources will provide additional $462 million. A total of 556 km highway will be constructed from the crossing Bavra (Georgian boundary) to Meghri (Iranian boundary).
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